Sprint revealed that it throttles about 1% of smartphone users who excessively use data while roaming, while Barnes & Noble is reportedly mulling the separation of its Nook line to outside investors and Apple pulls out of running for TV rights to the U.K.'s Premier League.

Sprint "unlimited data" not unlimited for some

Update: Dow Jones apparently left out the word "roaming" from its quote. According to TechCrunch, Hesse was referring to users who use large amounts of data "off-network." Sprint's contract allows for capping after 300MB of roaming usage.

"For those that want to abuse it, we can knock them off," Hesse said of the top one percent of data users.

Sprint, the latest U.S. carrier to sell Apple's iPhone, uses its unlimited data plans to set itself apart from other networks like AT&T and Verizon which employ tiered data plans. The company axed unlimited data access to data cards and tablets last year to clear bandwidth for a rising smartphone market.

It is unclear how much data a customer must use to be in the top one percent, and Hesse fell short of saying what constituted "abuse" of the data plan.

Sprint shares fell 3 percent to end the day at $2.24.

Barnes & Noble may split off Nook business

As part of a warning to investors on Thursday that full-year results for 2010 would miss expectations, Barnes & Noble said it was looking into splitting its Nook line of e-readers into a separate business, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Despite a hardware and digital download sales boost of 70 percent during the holiday season, analysts said that intense spending is needed to keep up with competitors like Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPad.

The bookseller also failed to hit expected Nook Simple Touch sales, possibly due to a misjudgment in how Amazon's similar Kindle Touch offering would impact sales.

"We see substantial value in what we've built with our Nook business in only two years, and we believe it's the right time to investigate our options to unlock that value," Chief Executive William Lynch said.

Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader lineup | Source: Barnes & Noble

The company said it was in talks with "with strategic partners, including publishers, retailers and technology companies in international markets" to expand the Nook line overseas, though no official details were given.

Barnes & Noble shares were down 18 percent at the end of Thursday.

Apple unlikely to enter Premier League rights auction

Despite recent reports that Apple would be in the running for broadcast rights to the U.K.'s Premiere League, the Cupertino, Calif, tech company won't be bidding to air the British soccer matches on its much rumored HDTV, according to The Guardian.

Apple will continue using its current model, which takes a cut from content producers through iTunes and the App Store.

British broadcasting company Sky already airs live matches on Apple devices through its SkyGo app, and the Premier League has an existing deal to sell packages through iTunes.

Internet search giant Google is also rumored to be looking into bidding for the lucrative TV contract, possibly as part of its rollout of original content channels for the company's YouTube online video site.

hey, at&t, verizon, and sprint. i have truly unlimited funding for a new business. initially i'm probably looking for somewhere between 12,000 and 20,000 smart-phones for my employees and customers. please submit your RFIs and RFPs ASAP.

* unlimited funding subject to terms and conditions and likely only means eighty bucks. but, seriously, it is unlimited.

Users are still unlimited in the amount of data you can potentially consume. You were always limited by speed and by duration of use, this is just an artificial speed limited, which sucks for those 1% but what did people expect once Sprint got the iPhone. Did people think they were really going to be immune to the ravages of network congestion? In a year expect this unlimited data option to be closed off.

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"For those that want to abuse it, we can knock them off," Hesse said of the top one percent of data users.

How can you abuse something that is 'truly unlimited'? That's like getting kicked out of an all you can eat buffet for eating too much. If their data plan has a limit, to any user, then it's not 'unlimited'.

Question: How can you pull out of something you were never confirmed to be in.

And just because they aren't perhaps trying to get the OTA broadcast rights to these games doesn't mean that Apple isn't up to something about them. Even Digitimes on occasion gets things kind of correct. Maybe this is a similar time with the Daily Mail. Perhaps instead of OTA, Apple is trying to get an iOS app made similar to how in the US we have the NBA and MBL apps.

How can you abuse something that is 'truly unlimited'? That's like getting kicked out of an all you can eat buffet for eating too much. If their data plan has a limit, to any user, then it's not 'unlimited'.

I understand your point that if they want to offer unlimited amount of data they shouldn't later then throttle users who use said data within the limited scope of the device or time frame, but we also need to realize that unlimited can mean multiple things. You don't go into an all-you-can-eat buffet then come back the next day to resume eating when you are hungry again. We obviously know you are limited to your one session. Same goes with unlimited data. They still aren't capping the amount of data, but further limiting their already slow speeds, which I'm sure is well within their right in the contract Sprint users signed even though it is tacky though likely beneficial to customers overall.

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So, Apple already has a pre-existing solution in place to air the content. But you've got to
1. Print a rumor that it's in a dramatic bidding war with google over the content, and
2. Print a disclaimer that the first rumor was false.

Actually Sprint isn't throttling its users--only those who roam. Clarification provided by TechCrunch (who made the same mistake):

Quote:

Update: It seems the Dow Jones report left a key word out: roaming. Dan Hesse squeezed the word in there, suggesting that Sprint will only consider it abuse when you go data-crazy on a partnered network that isnt actually theirs (Hesse cites a guy in his house in rural Montana as an example). Sprints fine print, for what its worth, says they can start capping after 300 MB of off-network data usage.

That puts this story in a better light for Sprint, but then the mention of capping at 300MB because it's off network shows once again that there is no truly unlimited data without a barrel full of qualifiers.

This bot has been removed from circulation due to a malfunctioning morality chip.

That puts this story in a better light for Sprint, but then the mention of capping at 300MB because it's off network shows once again that there is no truly unlimited data without a barrel full of qualifiers.

That puts this story in a better light for Sprint, but then the mention of capping at 300MB because it's off network shows once again that there is no truly unlimited data without a barrel full of qualifiers.

That puts this story in a better light for Sprint, but then the mention of capping at 300MB because it's off network shows once again that there is no truly unlimited data without a barrel full of qualifiers.

Sprint is pretty up front about the fact that the unlimited data is for 'on network use'. They haven't hidden that fact at all. There's really not a 'barrel full of qualifiers' at all.